Welcome to the first edition of a new monthly feature here on Nerdly – Back This! – where we take a look at some of the cool content taking the crowdfunding route on sites such as Indiegogo, Sponsume and Kickstarter. In this edition we’re taking a look at two very different films. The first is a British homage to 80s slasher flicks and the second is a US documentary about a “lost” superhero movie…

If you’d like us to consider your project to feature in a future edition of Back This!, make sure to drop us a line.

Christmas Slay

Started by writer/director Steven Davis, the Kickstarter campaign for Christmas Slay is almost at fruition with, as of writing, only ten days to go in the campaign. Looking for £7000 to fund a two-week shoot in Bulgaria (standing in for the snowy mountains of Scotland), Davis’ film promises to be “a unique take on the slash and stalk genre, a film inspired by so many great movie such as Friday the 13th, Black Christmas, Silent Night Deadly Night, A Nightmare On Elm Street and so many other cult horror classics of the 1970′s and 1980′s”.

With a cast that includes Frank Jakeman (Eastenders, Blott on the Landscape), James Payton (Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix), Dani Thompson (Zombie Women of Satan 2), Jessica Ann Bonner (Devil’s Tower, Vendetta) and newcomer Stefani Zanotti; and with special effects by Michele Mulkey (The Last Samurai, The Chronicles of Riddick), Christmas Slay promises to be an interesting take on a much-familiar genre. The official synopsis reads thus:

The story of Christmas Slay begins on a wintry Christmas Eve in the picturesque Kentish countryside, the horrific murder of a loving family, and the capture of a Santa Claus obsessed blood thirsty killer. As Christmas dawns closer the following year, a group of collage friends decide to get away from it all and relax and party over the Christmas holiday, they decide to escape to the idyllic Mistletoe Lodge nestled within the beautiful snowy mountains of the Scottish Highlands, but what starts off as the perfect festive getaway of fun in the snow and a glass of eggnog or two, suddenly descends in to gruesome blood bath of terror, and a fight for survival.

Pledges start at £1 and include the usual perks: thank you’s on social media, DVDs, posters, credits etc. Find out more at Christmas Slay‘s Kickstarter page.

DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s ‘The Fantastic Four’

I’m a huge superhero movie fan, so of course I have seen Roger Corman’s ill-fated 1994 film The Fantastic Four. But many people haven’t, and with good reason – the film was shelved after production never to be [legally] seen again. Some say Corman struck a deal to shoot the movie in an effort to keep the rights with the studio but no one really knows the truth… Until now.

Marty Langford and his producing partner Mark Sikes (who who was involved in the development of the film as an employee of Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons outfit) have, with Doomed!, set out to unravel the mystery surrounding the film, talking to those involved on both sides of the camera – promising that all of the secrets, stories and legal shenanigans that have kept this a ‘lost’ film will be revealed through an in-depth, investigative documentary.

1994′s “The Fantastic Four”, produced by Roger Corman’s New Horizons and Bernd Eichinger’s Neue Constantin Film, directed by Oley Sassone and written by Craig Nevius, is looked at much differently today than it was in the Fall of 1992, when Eichinger (who died in January, 2011) brought the property to Corman. Exactly what was discussed between the two men prior to a deal being struck isn’t known. But the result of their collaboration *is* – the movie has never been viewed legally by anyone in the world, other than those directly involved in the production.

The filmmakers already have committments from several of the principal cast including: Carl Ciarfalio (“The Thing”), Joseph Culp (“Dr. Doom”), Kat Green (“Alicia Masters”), Rebecca Staab (“Sue Richards”), Michael Bailey Smith (“Ben Grimm”), Jay Underwood (“Johnny Storm”) and Alex Hyde-White(“Reed Richards”); as well as several of the key crew members. Plus, 6% of the film’s profits will be donated to THE HERO INITIATIVE – an organization that helps comic creators in need.

Pledges for this project start at $10 and the perks include thank you’s on social media, an eBook, DVDs, original FF posters from 1994, credits etc. Find out more at DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four‘s Indiegogo page.